Windows 10 Update on Hold Due to ‘Blue Screen of Death’ Issues

Microsoft’s big spring update for Windows 10 had been set to start rolling out last week, but the launch was put off after the machines of the developers testing the new version of the operating system encountered the “blue screen of death” (BSOD).

Rather than try to fix the version that caused those problems, Microsoft instead opted to create a new build released yesterday to Windows Insiders in the “fast” ring for testing software updates.

Because of the delay, the final version of the update will likely roll out to general users later than expected, possibly sometime in May. It might also prompt Microsoft to assign a new name to what it had been calling the “Spring Creators Update” or, more recently, the “Windows 10 April 2018 Update.”

Insiders’ Discovery of ‘Blocking Bug’

The build that had been set for general release last week showed some reliability issues that required fixing, Windows Insider program head Dona Sarkar and senior program manager Brandon LeBlanc said in a Microsoft blog post yesterday.

“In certain cases, these reliability issues could have led to a higher percentage of (BSOD) on PCs for example,” they said. “Instead of creating a Cumulative Update package to service these issues, we decided to create a new build with the fixes included.”

Sarkar and LeBlanc added that the discovery of those problems, widely described as a “blocking bug,” underscored the importance of the Windows Insider program.

“This just reinforces that Windows Insiders are critical to helping us find and fix issues before releasing feature updates to all our customers so thank you!” they noted.

Previous updates this month have addressed a number of other Windows 10 problems, including several affecting security in the Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer browsers.